Avoid These 5 Scary Hiring Mistakes

5 Tips to Avoid a Hiring Nightmare

It’s the spookiest time of year for employers looking to hire before year’s end. It’s up to you to make your hiring process a fairytale and not a horror story! Avoid stumbling around like a zombie and use your brain to escape these…

5 Scary Hiring Mistakes

A Hiring Process that Feels Like Navigating a Haunted House

Everyone expects a few confusing twists and turns when winding through the mirrored halls of a haunted house. But no one appreciates that kind of experience when navigating your hiring process. Each step should be defined within your organization and clearly communicated to your candidates. Who’s involved in the hiring process? How many interviews will there be? What is the follow up process? What’s your timeline? A well-organized and communicated plan will keep your candidates from screaming and running in the opposite direction.

offering a terrifying compensation package

There’s nothing more terrifying to a candidate than being underpaid. Do your research by studying the current market value for the role and type of candidate you’re looking for. You won’t convince a seasoned professional to leave their current company for a junior salary. While offer increases have finally leveled out a bit, it’s not unusual for candidates to ask for a 20-50% increase to join your team. Don’t scare those A-Players away with an undermarket offer.

interviews with a vampire who sucks your time

Candidates seem to have a sixth sense about the organizations they are interested in. As soon as your start scheduling excessive interviews, rescheduling appointments, and disrespecting their time, their spidey senses begin to tingle, and they quickly get a bad feeling about your company and its leadership. Don’t make your interview process a time (or enthusiasm) suck! Identify key stakeholders before you even launch your search. From there, create a process that gets as many of those stakeholders in the room at the same time to streamline your interview process. You might want to consider having all interviews in one day. An endless interview schedule can feel like a stake in the heart to an enthusiastic candidate.

ghosting candidates in the follow-up

Connecting with the hiring manager after an interview shouldn’t feel like trying to grab a ghost. Following up is essential to keeping your target candidates interested and should be a step in your hiring process. You can avoid confusion by going over the “next steps” at the end of each piece of the process. “Thanks for submitting your resume. If you are a fit for the role, our hiring manager will contact you via email.” “Now that we’ve completed the phone interviews, you can expect a call from the recruiter by the end of the week to schedule your in-person interviews.” “Thanks for coming in for your interview today. We will be making our final decision within the next 5-7 business days and will reach out to you.” Responses like these give the candidate a clear indication of when they can expect to hear from you and should stop your inbox and voicemail from being inundated with messages from an eager applicant. Don’t just disappear into thin air in the middle of the process.

tricking (not treating) your candidates

Some employers are under the misconception that writing the Job Description is the “easy part” of hiring. Of course, that might be why so many of them are having trouble finding (and keeping) great talent. Don’t “trick” candidates into applying for your open positions with vague job descriptions or hidden expectations. Be specific about the responsibilities your new hire will be charged with, the metrics of success and evaluation you use, the skills, relevant experience, and education you require, and any personality/soft-skill attributes a leading candidate would possess. Submitting a resume to your organization should be a treat, not a trick.